"...Ugh... wh-where... am I...?"
The black panther [lycanthrope], Phobio, who had been sprawled on the ground, clutched his throbbing head and looked around as if he still could not make sense of the situation.
The last thing he clearly remembered seeing was the resurrection of [Charybdis], and yet what lay before his eyes now was unmistakably his own open hand...
"Looks like you finally came to."
...And the two monsters Phobio had wanted so badly to bring down were looking down at him in an atmosphere so peaceful it almost felt absurd.
"...!!"
There was only one meaning behind that.
The defeat of [Charybdis]... and of Phobio himself.
"...So I... lost..."
Even after obtaining the power of [Charybdis], the being called ruler of the skies, he had still been defeated.
There was no room for excuses, no way to call it unfair.
It had simply been an overwhelming gap in strength.
The man favored by the strongest Demon Lord truly possessed the power to bear that favor.
Unlike someone who had borrowed another's power and still been crushed miserably.
"......"
That meant only one choice remained for Phobio now.
"...I have committed a sin worthy of death. Please, let this one life alone—"
Sin was repaid with punishment.
A demon demanded a price.
A life was repaid with a life.
Following that ancient rule of the strong devouring the weak, Phobio lowered his head and bared his neck, holding his breath as he waited for the death that would soon come for him. But whether that was misfortune or mercy, what they wanted was not his life.
"Your life won't be necessary. Instead, answer honestly."
"How did a mere [lycanthrope] from [Eurazania] manage to find the seal of [Charybdis]?"
Treyni and her younger sister Trya, who had been waiting behind Adelio and Rimuru for Phobio to recover, stepped forward with cold expressions. They demanded to know how he had found the seal of [Charybdis], which the [Dryad]s had protected for generations.
By their original expectations, even if a lower-ranking Arch Demon had come to this area, it still should never have been able to locate the seal of [Charybdis]. So for a [lycanthrope], a race with no connection to magic at all, to have found it could only mean there was someone behind him.
"Ah, th-that was..."
The [Dryad]s' deduction was correct.
The Orcs' rampage from before, the birth of the Orc Disaster that followed, and now the invasion of [Charybdis] today.
Behind every one of those incidents, the same figure had always been lurking in the shadows.
......
"...Clowns."
After hearing the names of the two clowns, Tear and Footman, from Phobio's mouth, the [Dryad]s murmured under their breath.
"As expected... those lawless troublemakers from before had their hands in this as well."
It was not especially surprising.
Including the majin who had introduced himself as Laplace, every clown they had encountered so far had possessed remarkable ability, utterly unlike their ridiculous appearances.
"Well, this time they probably planned to sweet-talk Phobio into landing a big blow on Milim or me."
Adelio, who had already known of the clowns' scheme from the moment Phobio first showed up, long before [Charybdis] was ever revived, added it as if it were nothing important.
"[Charybdis] itself isn't any threat to us. But if they used this chance well, they could have stirred up major chaos in world affairs by creating a political conflict between Demon Lord and Demon Lord, or Demon Lord and Hero."
Especially, Adelio said, because Phobio served Carrion—a Demon Lord known for caring deeply for his subordinates, even if he was less thoughtful than the others—which made him an even more suitable target for the clowns.
"But in the end, neither side suffered any real damage, so it would be better to let the matter pass as it is—that's what you mean?"
"That's right."
Answering Shizue's question with a quiet nod, Adelio turned his gaze back to Phobio.
"I'm handling this not as the Grand Duke of the Underworld, but as a Hero. So you can go back now."
"...What...? What do you mean by—"
"Because I intend to collect your price from that side instead."
Cutting off Phobio's words, Adelio pointed with one finger toward the forest. Then, with a faint smile at the corner of his lips, he murmured calmly,
"I don't think you need to keep hiding anymore, do you, [Beast Master]?"
Rustle...
"Yeah. Looks like you're right."
A moment later, from the place Adelio had indicated, a blond [lycanthrope] appeared in an instant. Carrion fixed Adelio with two sharply gleaming eyes.
"...L-Lord Carrion?!"
"Hmph. You talked to me about noninterference and all that, and yet you came too?"
Unlike the other monsters, who had frozen where they stood at Carrion's sudden appearance, Phobio and Milim, both familiar with him, each threw out a comment as they looked his way.
Of course, Carrion was not the type to care about the reactions around him. He simply strode forward toward Adelio with complete confidence.
"It's been a while since we've met face to face. Not since the last Walpurgis. I never would have guessed that you, Guy's right-hand man, would be out in some remote place like this teaching monsters... though, well, it doesn't seem bad."
Perhaps because he was a Demon Lord by nature and temperament, Carrion paid no mind at all to the fact that Adelio, whose rank was technically below his, had spoken to him so casually. Stopping in front of Adelio, he flashed a fierce grin.
"Now then, go on and tell me. What price do you want from me for that idiot's mistake?"
The way he declared that he would grant anything within the limits of his power was more fitting than anyone else for the title of Beast King.
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